Senate Leader Harry Reid has been on a roll. Over the last few days Senator Reid has gone further than anyone would have ever thought in his allegations that an anonymous person from (or investor with) Bain Capital called him claiming that Mitt Romney didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years.
And the world was aghast. (Shocked! Shocked, I say!). ;)
Politically aghast for two reasons: First, in our general reaction to the allegation: “Yeah… so… we sorta already know Mitt Romney probably hasn’t paid any taxes and just give up on the issue b/c we accept that the wealthy get to play by different rules”… That strikes me as sad. Americans as a whole have basically conceded the fact that rich people do better than the not-rich people, and that includes that wealthy people are able to use the tax law to not pay taxes (among other privileges defined in American laws and access it the lawmakers).
Presidents ought not doge taxes. Presidents should demonstrate in their personal lives that they want to give back, not live by the rule, “take and keep”.
Just like corporations don’t pay taxes, because “corporations are people, too, my friend.” Americans already know that the super rich don’t pay taxes (breathing people or corporations people, it’s all the same in that world).
Additionally, we’re also aghast at the total lack of support that Senator Reid is giving to his allegation. Anonymous source. Media on the right AND the left are calling him out for being, basically, irresponsible. (Though, no different that all of Trump’s “lots of my people” who keep the birther fiasco going”).
That’s where I’m torn. Democrats sit around tables complaining about how their party never takes a stand…. now someone has: show us the damn tax returns, Willard.
We live in a political world that is dominated by hypocrisy, money, and religion. 90% of us don’t bother to know who our representative in Congress is, and most have given up at being a meaningful part of the American experiment. But we live in a moral structure that preaches BOTH turn the other cheek AND take an eye for an eye. As such, one side of my thought process embraces the audacity of Harry Reid: go after the extreme right with the same tactics that they have been using ever since George W. Bush was first elected: outrageous claims without any foundation, but enough to make a news cycle that gets the public hot and bothered about conspiracy theories. I revel in that FINALLY a democrat is giving the extreme right a taste of their own medicine. That sort of “justice” is something in which Americans undeniably believe.
But on the flip side of the coin, (or another page in the Bible), we believe that two wrongs don’t make a right…. a correct.
One thing the Democratic party has been able to say about itself is that it does NOT partake in the political insanity (mostly, at least not all the conspiracy theories and “save our country from distaster” language that motivate the republican base so much). Democrats try to find solutions, especially n the Senate, lead by majority leader Reid…. so that Senator Reid has made this decision takes democrats “down to their level” which we hope would never need to happen.
So as harry Reid continues his arms akimbo stance in the face of the Mitt Romney campaign shouting (as much as Senator Reid ever “shouts”) “Show Me The Tax Returns” … as a liberal I’m torn. I’ve been wanting, desperately, to see a little bit of Fight Club in the old guard democrats for a long time. I’ve been wanting liberals to acknowledge that try as they might, the small minority that controls the House and its majority part will NEVER compromise, which in turn, continues to push this country’s policy further and further to the right… and SOMEONE… anyone, needs to take a stand and stop it. Who would have thought it would be about Mitt Romney’s tax returns.
Yet once again… Mitt Romney refuses. Astounding.
I, for one, am not angry with Harry Reid. I’m am, however, a little saddened that it has had to come to this. That the leader of the majority party in the Senate has had to, quite literally, call out the Republican candidate for president of the united states. I, like most Americans, wish that our politics were better – much better – than that. So I am sad, but I am also proud: a democrat is finally calling out the republicans on their bullshit. Publicly in interviews, and on the floor on the senate. I’m a proud parent who has to watch his child come in last in a race, but am beaming with pride that he’s finishing the race and giving it his all rather than cowering under the intimidation of Republicans and Citizens United.
Senator Reid: I get it. I’m sorry you had to do it, but thank you for sticking your neck out and calling out the obscene insanity that is the Mitt Romney campaign and Republican political strategy.
